Mendon, NY: Richard L. Reeves, age 93, died peacefully on March 8, 2020, at his home in Mendon NY. He was born in 1926, the son of George T. and Mabel Reeves, of Falls Church, Virginia. In 1954, he married Mary Louise Warrick, and together they raised four daughters.
Richard served in the Navy as a radioman in World War II. He attended George Washington University and graduated in 1950 with a B.S. in Chemistry. He earned a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin in 1955.
From 1954 to 1986, Richard worked at Eastman Kodak in the Color Photography Division of the Research Labs. His research involved the chemical interactions of materials used in color photography, particularly reactions of organic dyes. While at Kodak, Richard authored numerous publications in major chemical journals, and contributed an invited chapter to a series of monographs on the chemistry of functional groups. In 1975, Richard was elected to the New York Academy of Sciences, and in 1979, he chaired the Gordon Research Conference on Micellar and Macromolecular Catalysis.
Richard and Mary Lou maintained a long-term interest in land-use and environmental stewardship. They were founding members of the Mendon Ponds Natural History Association, and their efforts were instrumental in having the park designated a National Natural History Landmark in 1967. He served on the Town of Mendon Zoning Board of Appeals from 1972-1992, and helped revise the zoning code.
Richard also enjoyed many other interests and hobbies. He was an avid vegetable gardener, a skilled amateur photographer, a world traveler, a witty writer, a jazz aficionado, and an enthusiastic ballroom dancer.
Richard is remembered with love, and survived by his wife of 65 years, Mary Lou; his daughters Robin Reeves, Shelley Reeves and husband Thomas Schultz, Deanna Reeves Korey, Lauren Lehman and husband Kenneth; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.